The sight itself is free which made us happy and we both found the bridge to be very impressive although not quite different from the one we saw in Segovia, Spain (the aqueduct in Segovia was completely intact and still being used by the town). After that we headed off to our free parking area for the night, which had dumping facilities and free electricity. The drive there was stressful again, as it turned dark almost as soon as we left the parking lot. Driving without any lights feels pretty unsafe, I tried to use the high-beams most of the time, but traffic was heavy with it being the end of the work day. Our free aires in Valréas turned out to be at a farm (and vineyard) and the electrical hook up was French, so we couldn’t use it. We also weren’t alone, which is always interesting for us, because we have found ourselves alone quite often since it started getting colder. We decided to spend the night watching some movies and have a few drinks to help calm our nerves. With most of our movies being stored on our external hard drive the computer seems to burn threw its battery faster. Having neighbors, we didn’t really want to disturb them. Previously, I had checked out the area and I did notice two electrical connections, the French one and what looked like a household German one. Well our van has all German outlets, and we have an adapter for our laptop. So I went outside in the lightly misting rain and charged the laptop. Julie didn’t feel that the laptop was safe alone so I stayed outside with it while she did the dishes and got the bed set up (she joined me outside when she was done). I brought my Ipod and a beer and it was a rather nice experience. The farm was very quite, the stars were out despite the fact it was raining and it wasn’t too cold. I’m actually glad we weren’t able to connect the van.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Pont du Garde
We were woken up at 8:30am by the sound of a horse. It was young and was being walked around. The area we stayed at had a great view of the walled portion of the city. House boats were docked right in front of us. It seems that in the off season no one collects fees. So we took our time getting ready. I did the usual van check up, cleaned up the van and threw out what garbage we had collected. Julie took the time to relax and finish reading the book that Freddy gave us back in Marbella. Todays drive was an interesting one. We had both heard about the famous Pont du Gard, but neither of us really knew why it was so famous. We understood that it was a bridge of some kind but that’s it. The drive to the Pont du Gard was rather uneventful. We had to pay for parking at the site, if we had stopped a few km away we could have parked for free (huge oversight on our part, especially since John and Linda had told us parking wasn’t free).
The sight itself is free which made us happy and we both found the bridge to be very impressive although not quite different from the one we saw in Segovia, Spain (the aqueduct in Segovia was completely intact and still being used by the town). After that we headed off to our free parking area for the night, which had dumping facilities and free electricity. The drive there was stressful again, as it turned dark almost as soon as we left the parking lot. Driving without any lights feels pretty unsafe, I tried to use the high-beams most of the time, but traffic was heavy with it being the end of the work day. Our free aires in Valréas turned out to be at a farm (and vineyard) and the electrical hook up was French, so we couldn’t use it. We also weren’t alone, which is always interesting for us, because we have found ourselves alone quite often since it started getting colder. We decided to spend the night watching some movies and have a few drinks to help calm our nerves. With most of our movies being stored on our external hard drive the computer seems to burn threw its battery faster. Having neighbors, we didn’t really want to disturb them. Previously, I had checked out the area and I did notice two electrical connections, the French one and what looked like a household German one. Well our van has all German outlets, and we have an adapter for our laptop. So I went outside in the lightly misting rain and charged the laptop. Julie didn’t feel that the laptop was safe alone so I stayed outside with it while she did the dishes and got the bed set up (she joined me outside when she was done). I brought my Ipod and a beer and it was a rather nice experience. The farm was very quite, the stars were out despite the fact it was raining and it wasn’t too cold. I’m actually glad we weren’t able to connect the van.
The sight itself is free which made us happy and we both found the bridge to be very impressive although not quite different from the one we saw in Segovia, Spain (the aqueduct in Segovia was completely intact and still being used by the town). After that we headed off to our free parking area for the night, which had dumping facilities and free electricity. The drive there was stressful again, as it turned dark almost as soon as we left the parking lot. Driving without any lights feels pretty unsafe, I tried to use the high-beams most of the time, but traffic was heavy with it being the end of the work day. Our free aires in Valréas turned out to be at a farm (and vineyard) and the electrical hook up was French, so we couldn’t use it. We also weren’t alone, which is always interesting for us, because we have found ourselves alone quite often since it started getting colder. We decided to spend the night watching some movies and have a few drinks to help calm our nerves. With most of our movies being stored on our external hard drive the computer seems to burn threw its battery faster. Having neighbors, we didn’t really want to disturb them. Previously, I had checked out the area and I did notice two electrical connections, the French one and what looked like a household German one. Well our van has all German outlets, and we have an adapter for our laptop. So I went outside in the lightly misting rain and charged the laptop. Julie didn’t feel that the laptop was safe alone so I stayed outside with it while she did the dishes and got the bed set up (she joined me outside when she was done). I brought my Ipod and a beer and it was a rather nice experience. The farm was very quite, the stars were out despite the fact it was raining and it wasn’t too cold. I’m actually glad we weren’t able to connect the van.
Aigues-Mortes
The drive here was pretty eventful, but not in a good way. Road construction put us on many detours that actually added 1 ½ hours to our already long drive. It was around 9 o’clock when I was about to enter a roundabout. A taxi had signaled to leave the roundabout and at the last minute swerved back into it, I wasn’t anticipating this. As it was late and there was barely any traffic on the road I was driving faster into the roundabout than I would have if it was during the day. That being said, I had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting the taxi, which luckily I did. But after the sudden stop the van shut off and would not turnover. There was barely enough power to even light the interior light. Julie and I pushed the van onto the corner of the roundabout, rather then leaving it in a live entry lane. We put out our triangle and Julie adorned the vest and held a flashlight. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out why the dam van wouldn’t start. I even tried hooking the leisure battery up to the main battery with the booster cables to give it a charge to see if that helped matters. It did not. I asked Julie to see if she could flag someone over, so as Julie would tell you, she was waving her arms “as John McClain did in Die hard 2 when he was trying to signal the planes to land” flashlight in hand. Anyway, many cars passed by without stopping until one lady with her brand new car decided to see if she could help us. After a short while of trying to boost the car without any success, she offered to drive behind us with her hazards on so we could roll the van closer to town. We only rolled about 200 meters before we decided that the van probably wouldn’t make it up the hill that was approaching. Because we were convinced that the battery was the problem we started looking into where we could find a gas station to purchase one, however the nearest one was about 5 km away (in a straight line from our current position). Not knowing if it was a good idea or not, we decided to see if we could replace the car battery with the leisure one, it was then that I realized what the problem was. Thankfully the only problem with the car was a loose connection with the battery post. I tightened it and off we drove. Our enjoyment though was short lived, because we noticed immediately that the headlights were not working properly. We had no normal lights, they were working more like daytime running lights, but the high-beams still worked. After an extremely stressful drive, we finally arrived at our destination. We also learned at this time that the spot we had chosen to park at was not free, so we hoped that we might escape in the morning without having to pay.
Gorges de Tarn
Today was another long drive. We were headed to what is referred to as the “Grand Canyon of France”. We both think that’s an exageration. Although the small towns amongst the high valley walls were nice to see and the extremely windy road was fun to drive on, there was nothing “Grand Canyon” about it. That being said, we did stop for lunch at the edge of the road overlooking a small town on the valley floor. The weather wasn’t pleasant either so this didn’t help us enjoy the area. After lunch we decided to head south to the coast again to another aires, in Aigues-Mortes.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Sad News
Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that our blog is on a temporary hiatus due to our laptop being fried. We will update as soon as possible.
Kris and Julie
Kris and Julie
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Carcassonne
There was a camping aires right outside the city walls of the wonderfully persevered town of Carcassonne. However, since we are still out of butane, we had dinner at a McDonalds and got caught up on emails and the like before heading to it. It started to get dark out so we made our way to find the camping aires, this should have been easy but our GPS wasn’t guiding us to the right spot so it took us at least 20 minutes to find. It was 10 euros to park, but the site offered WC, a dump station, water and even electricity. After dumping our waste water tank, I decided that it would be a good idea to use the electricity provided. Since I didn’t want to occupy the dump station in case another campervan showed up, I took the spot directly next to it, which was for busses. To use the electricity you had to press a button for 15 minutes of use. We did this for around 3 hours, it did get frustrating, but we were able to run our electric heater, so we weren’t complaining too much. It was late and our van is pretty loud when it’s running, so when we decided to move out of the bus parking spot and over to a camper one this made Julie nervous. Seeing as the parking lot was on a slope, all I had to do was release the E-brake and roll. Julie found this really funny and she felt like she was in a spy movie, rolling silently in the night. We haven’t had many complaints about the van of late, but since it really ruins our moods for a few days we try our best not to “annoy” others. Trust me, we do feel stupid sometimes for even caring, but it’s just us.
The next morning we visited Carcassonne. If the town didn’t allow any cars, trucks or any form of motorized transportation inside the walls, it would have been just magical. There are tourist shops and museums that seem to be in every town (medieval, torture etc) and you can normally look past them, but dodging cars kind of sticks out in your memories. When we were getting information at the tourist office located in the base of one of the large towers next to the main drawbridge/entrance, a tour group came in, the lady at the counter though, was complaining to us because the guide isn’t allowed to take people into the tourist office on his tours. What was funny, is that the tourists were taking pictures of the tourist booth, can’t imagine why you would want to remember that. We made our way to the castle and met a real angry woman behind the counter. I’m not too sure what Julie said to her, but I could tell that it wasn’t going well. Julie wasn’t sure what she had done either so we trumped it up to her having a bad day. The castle was nice to explore, although it was really just walking along the walls. It did provide some pretty nice views of the old medieval town and the new town below. There wasn’t much else to see after that, so we walked around the perimeter and back to the van.
Our next stop was Valderies, where there was a free aires. The drive was only 151km, but it took us well over 3 hours and a tank of gas. The drive was mostly done on winding roads through mountains and hills. We managed to get some information from a hardware store as to where we could get our butane tank exchanged for a full one (they didn’t have any full ones in stock). The ladies took about 10 minutes explaining to Julie the directions, along with a detailed drawn map. We found the campervan store with out any problems and now we finally have fuel to cook our food. We decided to press our luck and asked the gentleman if he knew of a place we could get our propane tanks filled, he gave Julie verbal directions and a name, that’s it. We could not find the place and asked someone in the area if they had heard of it, and it turns out they hadn’t. This was funny, because I had commented earlier on how long the ladies took giving Julie such detailed directions and that a guy wouldn’t go to all that trouble. Julie now only wants to get directions from women.
When we arrived in Valderies it was windy, cold and raining. We located the parking area, which seemed to be in the center of town. The next morning we went to the bakery in the square and picked up a healthy breakfast of croissants and a pastry filled with nutella chocolate. The lady told Julie that she hadn’t spoken English in 30 years and I have to say she did a pretty good job in telling me how much I owed.
The next morning we visited Carcassonne. If the town didn’t allow any cars, trucks or any form of motorized transportation inside the walls, it would have been just magical. There are tourist shops and museums that seem to be in every town (medieval, torture etc) and you can normally look past them, but dodging cars kind of sticks out in your memories. When we were getting information at the tourist office located in the base of one of the large towers next to the main drawbridge/entrance, a tour group came in, the lady at the counter though, was complaining to us because the guide isn’t allowed to take people into the tourist office on his tours. What was funny, is that the tourists were taking pictures of the tourist booth, can’t imagine why you would want to remember that. We made our way to the castle and met a real angry woman behind the counter. I’m not too sure what Julie said to her, but I could tell that it wasn’t going well. Julie wasn’t sure what she had done either so we trumped it up to her having a bad day. The castle was nice to explore, although it was really just walking along the walls. It did provide some pretty nice views of the old medieval town and the new town below. There wasn’t much else to see after that, so we walked around the perimeter and back to the van.
Our next stop was Valderies, where there was a free aires. The drive was only 151km, but it took us well over 3 hours and a tank of gas. The drive was mostly done on winding roads through mountains and hills. We managed to get some information from a hardware store as to where we could get our butane tank exchanged for a full one (they didn’t have any full ones in stock). The ladies took about 10 minutes explaining to Julie the directions, along with a detailed drawn map. We found the campervan store with out any problems and now we finally have fuel to cook our food. We decided to press our luck and asked the gentleman if he knew of a place we could get our propane tanks filled, he gave Julie verbal directions and a name, that’s it. We could not find the place and asked someone in the area if they had heard of it, and it turns out they hadn’t. This was funny, because I had commented earlier on how long the ladies took giving Julie such detailed directions and that a guy wouldn’t go to all that trouble. Julie now only wants to get directions from women.
When we arrived in Valderies it was windy, cold and raining. We located the parking area, which seemed to be in the center of town. The next morning we went to the bakery in the square and picked up a healthy breakfast of croissants and a pastry filled with nutella chocolate. The lady told Julie that she hadn’t spoken English in 30 years and I have to say she did a pretty good job in telling me how much I owed.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Spain and Portugal Statistics
Portugal Statistics
Km traveled by car: 1,521
Km traveled by foot: 39
€ spent on fuel, oil, propane: 264.29
€ spent on camping: 18.00
€ spent on groceries: 4.58
€ spent on takeout/Restaurant: 52.15
€ spent on misc. items: 58.40 (50 for butane and adapter)
€ spent on tourist sites: 46.50
# of showers had: 1
# of days spent in Portugal: 7
Total Spent in € : 443.92
Average Daily Costs in € : 63.42
Resting Time Statistics
Km traveled by car: 0
Km traveled by foot: ?
€ spent on fuel, oil, propane: 0
€ spent on camping: 370.11
€ spent on groceries: 431.05
€ spent on takeout/Restaurant: 27.64
€ spent on misc. items : 118.67
€ spent on tourist sites: 0
# of showers had: 36
# of days spent in Spain: 36
Total Spent in € : 947.47
Average Daily Costs in € : 26.32
Spain Statistics
Km traveled by car: 4,150
Km traveled by foot: 96
€ spent on fuel, oil, propane: 701.41
€ spent on camping: 128.78
€ spent on groceries: 196.87
€ spent on takeout/Restaurant: 34.20
€ spent on misc. items : 52.40
€ spent on tourist sites: 72.90
# of showers had: 5
# of days spent in Spain: 18
Total Spent in € : 1,186.56
Average Daily Costs in € : 65.92
Km traveled by car: 1,521
Km traveled by foot: 39
€ spent on fuel, oil, propane: 264.29
€ spent on camping: 18.00
€ spent on groceries: 4.58
€ spent on takeout/Restaurant: 52.15
€ spent on misc. items: 58.40 (50 for butane and adapter)
€ spent on tourist sites: 46.50
# of showers had: 1
# of days spent in Portugal: 7
Total Spent in € : 443.92
Average Daily Costs in € : 63.42
Resting Time Statistics
Km traveled by car: 0
Km traveled by foot: ?
€ spent on fuel, oil, propane: 0
€ spent on camping: 370.11
€ spent on groceries: 431.05
€ spent on takeout/Restaurant: 27.64
€ spent on misc. items : 118.67
€ spent on tourist sites: 0
# of showers had: 36
# of days spent in Spain: 36
Total Spent in € : 947.47
Average Daily Costs in € : 26.32
Spain Statistics
Km traveled by car: 4,150
Km traveled by foot: 96
€ spent on fuel, oil, propane: 701.41
€ spent on camping: 128.78
€ spent on groceries: 196.87
€ spent on takeout/Restaurant: 34.20
€ spent on misc. items : 52.40
€ spent on tourist sites: 72.90
# of showers had: 5
# of days spent in Spain: 18
Total Spent in € : 1,186.56
Average Daily Costs in € : 65.92
Figueres
While searching for a parking spot 3 drunken guys waved us over to try and help us out. Well at least one of the guys was trying to help, the other guy was trying to speak to us in Dutch (he didn’t believe we were Canadian and couldn’t understand him) and eventually asked us in English if he could sleep in our van for the night, the third guy was pretending he didn’t know the other two. Despite their good intentions, this made Julie uncomfortable, so we moved on to find other parking. We stumbled across two other campers parked in a Lidl grocery store parking lot so we decided to join them. The next morning we made our way to the Salvador Dali museum, which happened to be closed as it was a Monday (a slight oversight), since this was the only thing to see in this town, we headed off for Carcassonne, France. On our way back to the van, we passed a small shop that was selling bandanas. The old lady that owned the shop was extremely pleasant and made Julie’s day. As Julie was browsing the different colours available, the lady was teaching Julie the colours in Spanish all the while smiling. It really was a great experience as the lady didn’t speak any English, and we didn’t speak any Spanish yet we were able to communicate with each other (something the lady pointed out with gestures). This was a great way to end our time in Spain, since most of the time spent here Julie and I encountered reluctance from people to provide us with any sort of help and/or information. One Spanish word we got very used to hearing in Spain was “magnana” (tomorrow).
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